Asked whether he feels pressured by Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take action on Iran,
Obama said that he agrees with Israel's insistence that Iran not
be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.

But, he continued, "when it comes to our national
security decisions — any pressure that I feel is simply to do
what's right for the American people. And I am going to block out
— any noise that's out there."

"Now I feel an obligation, not pressure but obligation, to
make sure that we're in close consultation with the Israelis — on
these issues," he added. "Because it affects them deeply. They're
one of our closest allies in the region."

Obama's Republican opponent, Mitt
Romney, has similarly criticized the president over
his relationship with Israel. In his own 60 Minutes
interview, which also aired Sunday, Romney slammed Obama for not
taking a meeting with Netanyahu while the Israeli Prime Minister
is in New York for the United Nations summit this week.

Obama's defensive comments on Israel underscore the president's
diminished advantage on foreign policy issues in the wake of this
month's attacks on the U.S. embassies in Egypt and Libya this
month, which resulted in the deaths of four U.S. consulate
employees, including the American ambassador to Libya.

And Obama didn't do himself any favor Sunday night, when 60
Minutes anchor Steve Kroft asked if the recent attacks had
given the president any pause over his administration's support
for the Arab Spring uprisings.

"I'd said even at the time that this is going to be a
rocky path," he said. "I was pretty certain and continue to be
pretty certain that there are going to be bumps in the road
because — you know, in a lot of these places — the one organizing
principle — has been Islam. The one part of society that
hasn't been controlled completely by the government. There are
strains of extremism, and anti-Americanism, and anti-Western
sentiments....but I do think that over the long term we are more
likely to get a Middle East and north Africa that is more
peaceful, more prosperous and more aligned with our
interests."

The Republican National Committee and the Romney campaign
immediately seized on the remarks, suggesting that the
President's comments trivialized the fatal attacks on the U.S.
overseas.